Jonesboro-based Hytrol Conveyor Company is expanding to the River Valley. Officials formally announced yesterday the company is investing $20 million to open an advanced manufacturing operation in Fort Smith, which will create 250 new jobs within five years.

John Brummett, political writer for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette , and Roby Brock, with our partner Talk Business and Politics , discuss an already heavily political new year. From a presidential phone call to the upcoming legislative session in Little Rock, they consider how 2021 has already become quite newsworthy.

It makes sense Richie is a nickname for Richard, but why is Daisy a nickname for Margaret? Our Militant Grammarian, Katherine (or Kate, or Kathy) Shurlds, gives us a lesson about the origins of nicknames.

Included in the $900 billion COVID-19 relief package passed by Congress in late December is the restoration of Medicaid to Pacific Islanders legally residing in the U.S. under a Compact of Free Association. Thousands of Arkansas Marshallese will now qualify. Medicaid was first conveyed in 1986, but mistakenly nullified a decade later during welfare reform.

The Museum of Native American History has commissioned Muscogee artist Johnnie Diacon to paint a Trail of Tears mural as part of a joint exhibition with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The mural is comprised of three large panels and the Tulsa-based artist anticipates completing the project in January.

The holidays may be over, but we still have food on our minds as we head into the archives at the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History . Randy Dixon takes us back with clips about everything from bread shortages and race to Colonel Sanders and Minute Man burgers.

Mental health professionals are reporting more children and adults are seeking out their services during the pandemic. We speak with parents, teachers and therapists to find out how the global health crisis is impacting students as they attend school in person, virtually and everything in between. For more information about the free and anonymous Stay Positive Arkansas program, click here .

For months this year, we dug into the Fayetteville Roots Festival archives for musical performances on our show. As 2021 approaches, we consider new ideas for how to celebrate live music as the pandemic continues.

Randy Dixon, with the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History , lets us listen to sounds of Christmas from Arkansas's past. He digs into the archives for toys, parades, and a former governor's wish for peace.

Local musicians have collected holiday music they've recorded in the past few years for us to enjoy. We talk with Roby Pantall and Anthony Ball about their love of holiday music.